Monthly Archives: September 2014

A single mother has to attend to her parental duties just like any other parent. She must provide a sustainable life for her child or children; and this starts by providing shelter for them. That has proved to be a daunting task for many mothers given that the best jobs for such women are located in areas where housing costs are too high. The affordable houses are usually located in areas not suitable for single mothers to work in or even to raise their children in. This may be due to quality or even security issues. This case has been treated with high priority by both federal and state governments. As a result, special programs have been initiated through which such women can secure affordable and high quality housing.

HUD

One such exclusive program is the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in U.S. HUD works with the housing market to provide protection for home owners and renters. The program aims at securing safe places where people can dwell in. HUD can be of remarkable assistance in providing affordable housing to single mothers in several ways which include:

Public housing

Housing choice vouchers

Rent subsidies

Public Housing

HUD works to build affordable apartments for single mothers, the elderly, low-income households, the disabled and any other people who are not favored by the housing market. As a single mother, you can consult a public housing agency who can assist in searching for suitable housing and applying for the same.
Housing Choice Vouchers
This initiative is funded by the federal government and administered by the local public housing authorities. It makes use of a voucher system to help people edged out of the housing market to acquire affordable to settle in. Such houses are outsourced form the private housing market. This may include a townhouse, an apartment or even a home. This voucher program does not exclude any housing projects or communities. However, there are certain conditions that a single mother must fulfill to be deemed as eligible to this voucher system. One such requirement is that she should be making between 30% and 50% of the median income which varies with location. The local public housing authorities looks into the family size and income information when you are applying. These vouchers are usually used to purchase homes while in other cases the single mother is only required to only cover for a fraction of the specified rent for the home or private apartment.

Rent Subsidies

This program under HUD also offers aid to single mothers in various ways. One such method is where HUD collaborates with apartment owners to subsidize rental fees. As a result of this effort, most of the housings today have a number of apartments reserved for single mothers, low-income earners and others. The single mother will then be required to pay a certain rate which depends on how much income they earn. Single mothers who are eligible for this program and want to secure somewhere they can settle can apply at management offices of various apartment buildings.

HUD has been of help to many single mothers. It has offered public housing for about 1.2 million people. Under HUD, the amount of rent that you pay as a single mother depends on how much you earn and number of dependents on you.